Cry of the Banshee
by rdc30
Summary: A simple desire to prove herself and see the galaxy led Thena Sorotai to join the Imperial Navy. However, her motives and desires soon become muddled as loyalty and morality clash. Friends become enemies and everything she held dear will be put to the test.


Disclaimer: I don't own Star War or any of its characters. Those, apparently, now belong to Disney, for good or ill.

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First Lieutenant Varina Sorotai performed her standard pre-flight checklist as she anxiously waited for the traffic controller to give her the green-light. The world shook around her as Imperial artillery fire rained down around Echo Base. A series of rapid tapping on her canopy window informed her that the ground crew had finished refueling her rugged T-65 X-Wing. With a sigh, Varina leaned back into her seat and waited.

A light chirm from her control panel awoke her from her rest.

"Transport D-14 is cleared for take-off in thirty, that is three-zero, seconds."

Quickly shifting upright, Varina activated her com-link as she powered up her ship. She could barely hear the static of the communications device over the growing hum of her engines.

"Alrigh Teal-8, this is Transport D-14. Reports from the Fire Control Center says the Ion Cannon is powered up. You and your wing-man go first and we'll follow you out."

Thumbing the reply switch, Varina quickly acknowledged the commander of the evacuation ship before signaling her wing-mate.

"Alright Scrappy, we just got our go-ahead. May the Force be with you."

A confident voice with a hint of amusement sounded over her cockpit com-link.

"Got it, try not to shot down all of the Buckets this time. Leave a few to me."

Rolling her eyes as her fighter slowly lifted from the ground, Varina closed the link before returning her attention to her machine.

"Alright, Arfive, let's do it."

With a series of electronic phrases, her faithful astromech acknowledged her order and gradually increased the ship's engine output. The X-Wing began to move forward and rapidly gained speed as the four powerful engines neared full power.

Echo Base rapidly receded from view as her starfighter blasted toward the atmosphere. Arfive quickly marked the trajectory that the leaders of the Alliance had planned out and Varina smoothly brought her ship into alignment with the marked path. Her sensors picked up Scrappy's ship right behind her and soon, the massive signature of the GR-75 transport ship carrying almost one hundred people.

Below her, Varina noted with pain that the distinct signatures of Imperial walkers were getting closer and closer to the main entrance of the Alliance base. The last line of defense protecting the power generator seemed insignificant next to the raw power of the Imperial AT-ATs. Varina silent beseeched the Force to let her friends hold off the Imperial onslaught long enough for all the transport to escape. If the generators fell, there was nothing stopping the Star Destroyers in orbit from obliterating the remaining Alliance personnel.

As the darkness of space gradually engulfed her ship, Varina's com-link buzzed one last time.

"The shield is deactivating and the Ion Cannon is firing. Good luck and may the Force be with you."

Seconds later, a stream of super-charged particles blasted pass her ship with a loud screech that nearly deafened her. The blast from the massive planetary defense gun sped into orbit at a target Varina could not discern. As her ship exited the protection of the shield generator, Varina quickly locked the S-Foils of her fighter into attack position.

"Arfive, I want the all reserve power to the forward deflectors."

The loyal droid complied immediately as the mammoth outline of an Imperial Star Destroyer entered visual range. The intimidating dagger shipped warship stood menacingly in front of her comparably tiny sub-fighter. Swallowing her unease and going against every instinct in her body, Varina continued forward. The path planned out called for her formation to fly straight through this sector and jump into hyperspace as soon as they cleared the gravity well of Hoth. The Ion Cannon was supposed to disable any ship in their path.

As the formation closed with the massive warship, Varina could not keep a smile off her face as she finally got a sensor reading on the Imperial-class Star Destroyer. The main reactor was off-line and all primary systems had shutdown. Unfortunately, the smile quickly faded as half a dozen sensor pings returned around the disabled capital ship.

TIE fighters. An entire squadron of them.

"Scrappy! TIE Fighters dead ahead. Protecting the transport is our main priority. Redirect power to your deflector shields. Ignore the ISD."

"I copy that, Lead, I have your back."

The TIEs sighted the rebel formation moments later and slowly scrambled into a V formation. Varina noted with mixed feelings how sloppily the enemy squadron had responded to her presence. On one hand, she was glad for the inexperience of her enemies, but on the other hand, that probably meant she was about to kill kids fresh from the Imperial Academy. She used to be one of them, and who knows how many of the enemy pilots would realize the error of their ways if only they had lived longer.

Sighing in resignation, Varina activated her dual photon torpedo launchers as the TIE squadron finally formed together. Activating her targeting computer, she held her breath as the potent weapons locked onto the enemy ships. As soon as the computer achieved lock-on, she lightly tapped the firing stud twice, sending four torpedoes racing ahead of her fighter toward the enemy formation.

"Scrappy, hold onto your missile payload and hit that Star Destroyer when the transport is clear. Put a couple of torpedoes right up its engines so it can't follow us."

"Sounds like a plan, boss. I'm locking S-foils and redirecting my deflectors. We should be entering cannon range in…ten seconds. Good luck."

As he said that, Varina's torpedoes reached the enemy formation. Somewhat surprisingly, the squadron leader actually managed to bank hard out of the way of the lead torpedoes. Unfortunately for his men, they were not as skilled. All four torpedoes hit an enemy target, instantly reducing the enemy strength by more than half. The sole remaining green pilot seemed to list about in confusion as the squadron leader immediately turned tail and ran. After a second of hesitation, his only remaining subordinate followed him.

Varina sighed in relief at how fast the battle ended. She briefly thought about pushing forward and finishing off the two fleeing enemies but quickly thought better of it. Deactivating her targeting computer, she glanced at her sensors as she turned her ship back toward its original course. However, what she saw brought a frown to her face.

"Scrappy, return to formation. Our mission is to guard the transport, so forget about those two."

"Just one second, I'm almost in range. After I finish them off, I'll put a couple torpedoes in their hanger bay."

Varina scowled at her wing-man's response. That idiot was notorious for his bloodthirsty impulses. This was not the first time he had abandoned mission perimeters in order to add another kill mark to his fighter. If the Alliance was not desperate for trained pilots, he would have been grounded long ago.

Now she had to decide whether or not she was going to back up her wing-mate or cover the transport. Cursing silently under her breath, Varina knew she did not really have a choice. The most important rule of fighter combat was to watch your wing-mate's back. Reluctantly, Varina slowly pulled on her control stick and brought the X-Wing around.

Immediately, her control panel lite up with alerts as half her computers warned her about her divergence from the mission. Arfive buzzed with uncertainty as the distance between her snub-fighter and the cumbersome transport increased.

"I know, I know, but we have to cover that idiot before he gets himself killed."

All her intuition screamed at her that she was making a mistake, but she forced her doubt away. The transport was only a few minutes away from breaking the Imperial blockade. The closest Imperial warship was a whole orbital sector away and would never get here in time.

She hoped.

Scrappy's X-Wing was closing on the TIE fighters as the smaller crafts sped for the imaginary sanctuary of their mothership. Unfortunately for them, in this situation, docking with the Star Destroyer was not going to help them one bit.

So why did things feel wrong?

Varina narrowed her eyes as she desperately scanned for the possible cause of her uneasiness. It was never wise to ignore one's instinct. Suddenly, it hit her.

How was Scrappy's X-Wing gaining on the TIE fighters? The advanced Alliance fighter should not be able to match the speed of the lighter TIEs. Varina immediately thumbed her com-link.

"Scrappy! Disengage! It's a trap! Disengage!"

Her warning came right as the X-Wing entered firing range of the fleeing TIE fighters. However, to Varina's shock, right before her wing-man could open fire, a hail of laser bolts slammed into the weakened rear deflectors of Scrappy's X-Wing. Trailing the beams to their source, Varina's eyes widened as she sighted a strange craft that resembled a TIE fighter rapidly closing with the Alliance ship, The strange new ship seemed to have three smaller solar panels and flew at speed beyond any TIE fighter.

With a curse, Varina activated her targeting computer and dumped as much power as she could into her ship's engines. She was still thirty seconds away from being able to lock on with her remaining photon torpedoes. However, she quickly noted with alarm that Scrappy was not disengaging.

"Scrappy! Run!"

"No! I can get those two and gutted the star destroyer before that coward can vap me!"

Varina slammed her fist into her canopy window in rage. That idiot was going to get himself killed.

"Scrappy, that's an order! Disengage and head towards me! Do you hear me?"

Only static answered her desperate cries as the new Imperial snub-fighter rapidly closed on Scrappy's ship. The two TIE fighters increased their speed and, slowly, the distance between Scrappy and his targets increased. The impulsive pilot opened fire with his laser cannons but the extreme range rapidly degraded the power of the beams and the few shots that hit merely jolted the enemy fighters.

"Scrappy! Scrappy! Run!"

After a second of silence, Scrappy's voice sounded over her com-link.

"Boss! I can't shake that guy! My rear deflectors are almost down! I've lost my astromech!"

The man's usual arrogance had given way to panic. Despite the fact that this whole situation was his own fault, Varina could not help but feel terrified for the safety of her wing-man.

"Scrappy! You need to stay calm! I want you to try to juke this guy, just like in the sims. I'll be in range in ten seconds. I want you to disengage and head for the escape vector."

Varina felt her heart drop as one of Scrappy's engines took a glancing hit from his pursuer. Fortunately, the damaged X-Wing still managed to sluggishly turn toward her. Gritting her teeth, Varina desperately willed the targeting computer to achieve a lock. She was down to her last two photon torpedoes. She had to make them count.

As expected, the new enemy fighter followed Scrappy like a determined predator after its prey. Its pilot was easily tracking the slow maneuvers Scrappy performed and scored multiple hits on the damaged X-Wing. However, for some reason, Scrappy's crippled X-Wing still managed to fly.

Then understanding dawned on her as her targeting computer returned with an error alarm. The enemy fighter was hiding behind Scrappy's X-Wing and Varina could not get a lock without endangering her wing-man.

"Scrappy! You need to get out of the way! I can't get a lock!"

A second later, Scrappy pushed the noise of his fighter up but a hail of laser fire immediately forced him back down onto his original course. Varina cursed as she realized the enemy fighter was herding the X-Wing toward her and using it as a shield.

She desperately put her fighter into a dive in order to bypass Scrappy but the enemy pilot immediately compensated by herding her wing-man into the new line of fire. Forcing herself to remain calm, Varina tried to analyze the situation.

She could not let the enemy get close. The biggest advantage the X-Wings had over the more maneuverable TIEs was the ability to engage at longer range. If it came down to a dogfight, she was not sure she could overcome the skill of the enemy combined with a maneuverability advantage. It would also result in Scrappy's death as the enemy pilot would kill him the second he entered cannon range.

A dark thought crept into her mind and she recoiled at how she could even think such a thing. If she simply removed Scrappy from the equation, she still had time to launch her torpedoes. Her wing-man was going to die regardless, why should his foolishness drag her down as well? Besides, she had to worry about the transport. Without fighter protection, that new fighter could easily scrap the fragile cargo ship.

Could she do it? Could she kill her wing-man?

Twenty seconds until they entered cannon range.

Suddenly, her com-link buzzed. The noise snapped Varina out of her indecision.

"Arfive, who is that?"

A series of beeps and boops from her companion immediately filled Varina with dread. Reaching out a shaking hand, she thumbed the com-link. Immediately, a familiar voice filled the cockpit as her worst fear became reality.

"Greetings Rebel Pilot, am I addressing Second Lieutenant Varina Sorotai of Kuat?"

Hesitating for a second, Varina eventually replied in a soft whisper.

"Yes, it is me….little sister."


End file.
